2003 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Semantiac and Pragmatic Study on Copular Sentences
| Project/Area Number |
13610666
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
言語学・音声学
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| Research Institution | Keio University |
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Principal Investigator |
NISHIYAMA Yuji Keio University, Institute of Cultural and Linguistic Studies, Professor, 言語文化研究所, 教授 (90051747)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
KUMAMOTO Chiaki Saga University, Faculty of Culture and Education, Associate Professor, 文化教育学部, 助教授 (10153355)
KOYA Itsuki Keio University, Faculty of Law, Professor, 法学部, 教授 (80234904)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2001 – 2003
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| Keywords | copular sentences / predicational sentences / specificational sentences / NP involving a variable / 'Unagi'-sentences / cleft sentences / referential NP / non-referential N |
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| Research Abstract |
We have considered various types of copular sentences in English and Japanese. Analysis of copular sentences requires an accurate understanding of the semantic functions each NP performs in a particular position. The notion of NPTV (NP involving a variable) has been proved to be crucial in explaining the characteristics of non-referential NPs which typically appear in specificational sentences.
Nishiyama (2003) presents the following findings among others:
(1) The ambiguity of the construction 'A wa B ga C (da)' is satisfactorily explained only in terms of the presence or absence of the notion of specification.
(2) There are types of predicational sentences with the form 'A wa B da' in which B has the sense of specification incorporated within itself.
(3) There is an interconnection between copular sentences and existential sentences in that the referential/non-referential distinction of NPs is essential in classifying their subtypes.
Kumamoto (2001, 2003, 2004) applied the notion of NPIV to the analysis of English copular sentences and existential sentences to make the following findings:
(4) it-clefts and list-there-sentences have similarity in that the notion of NPIV is involved in both cases : the former specify the value for a variable and the latter assert the existence of possible values.
(5) Counterfactual copular sentences on the replacement reading are adequately explained not in terms of the notion of attributive NP but in terms of the notion of NPIV
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